Dr Karen McAulay explores the history of Scottish music collecting, publishing and national identity from the 18th to 20th centuries. Research Fellow at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, author of two Routledge monographs.
Yes, folks, there really is going to be another book. Following on from my first one, date-wise, but with more social history, more about publishers, and more about amateur music making between 1880-1950.
Exciting? You bet!
A Social History of Amateur Music-Making and Scottish National Identity: Scotland’s Printed Music, 1880-1950
Idly browsing Twitter whilst eating my Shreddies (edible cardboard, but good for me), I suddenly put down my spoon at the sight of something far more interesting. Here’s mention of a new book about intellectual property and plays in eighteenth-century Britain!
Literary Property and the Eighteenth-Century British Stage, by Jane Wessel
‘How playwrights, actors, and theater managers vied for control over the performance of popular plays after the passage of England’s first copyright law.’
The book is published by the University of Michigan Press later this year. I shall clearly have to add this to the Claimed From Stationers’ Hall network bibliography!
Today, I’m working from home wearing my library hat, but I have august company on the desk beside me. My fingers itch to give these new personal acquisitions a closer inspection, but they have to wait until tonight. Meanwhile, I can just look, and gloat.
LATER, MUCH LATER. How helpful! There’s a page at the back actually listing the history of editions of the Scottish Students’ Song Book. That saves me having to unpick the history from newspaper adverts.
Also interesting to note that Janey Drysdale contributed a couple of songs to the British Students’ Song Book, that were arranged by her late brother. Marjory Kennedy Fraser contributed a couple of songs too, the lyrics of which were by Dr Charles Kennedy, whilst she had arranged the musical settings. Neither woman contributed to the earlier Scottish book.
Students were, of course, mostly male. Marjory had been one of the first women to attend music lectures at Edinburgh University, but she didn’t graduate until she was awarded an honorary doctorate much later.
Now, there’s one burning question. Who was the third woman that contributed to the British Students’ Song Book? Yes, I need to know! I have a book to write.
Librarian. Time mainly spent cataloguing and working on the library equality and diversity project. In connection with this, I’m commited to giving a talk next month, and to submitting a librarianship-related journal article arising from a talk I gave earlier this year.
Musicologist. [2nd] book proposal submitted. Already committed to producing two book chapters for essay collections being edited by other folk.
Librarian meets Musicologist. Article straddling both worlds, due out in the next month or so. Also giving a talk in Edinburgh in June, in my capacity as Honorary Wighton Librarian.
If only I had a garden big enough for a secluded Writing Shed!
SHAMELESSLY sharing this call for papers, word for word. Maybe one of the Claimed From Stationers Hall networkers might feel inspired to talk for five minutes?
“Speaking at a conference is a big step on your career journey & lightning talks are an ideal way to dip your toe in the water. We’re searching for speakers for 5-min lightning talks CILIP’s Copyright Conference (18 May, online).”
Here’s the link for more info.
The deadline is 1 April 2022. (No kidding.)
There comes a time in every funded researcher’s year, when they have to upload evidence of writings and speakings and anything else that may have emanated from their funded research.
I struggled this month. There didn’t seem to be much to report, given that I’ve been focused largely on my present writing project, which is not (currently/yet, depending on optimism) funded. Nonetheless, I did it. And cheerfully tweeted my relief that it was done. I shared my favourite image of a fish mosaic on social media to celebrate.
Today, imagine my surprise – ResearchFish actually SENT me a Research Fish! I shall treasure this gesture.
(On a slightly more serious note, this is possibly the first time an article in The People’s Friend has been cited as a research output – it counts as outreach!)
It’s just a wee song written by a 1950s Scottish comedian – ‘Let Scotland Flourish’, by Alec Finlay. Yes, published by Mozart Allan (who else?!)
I found a picture of the cover – oh, yes! But I really would like to see inside, and also the back of it! There’s every probability it’s just a “variety theatre” kind of song – it may have a Scottish flavour. But I’d still like to see for myself …
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to contribute to this book, since I am researching a later era at the moment. (My latest heroine wasn’t even born by 1837, and she has just had a whole article written about her for another journal, so I haven’t much more to contribute at the moment.) Nonetheless, I share this for anyone who might be interested:-
Women’s Studies Group 1558 – 1837: Women’s and gender studies in the early modern period and long eighteenth century
Book: Call for Proposals:
WSG Edited Collection of Essays, “Global Exchanges”
I have just catalogued a book containing my chapter on music subscribers to published strathspey and reel collections in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. (Not every author gets to catalogue what they contributed to! Still, it means it’s now available in the library at RCS.
Here it is:-
Chapter 10. ‘Strathspeys, Reels, and Instrumental Airs: A National Product’
And the book itself:
Music by subscription : composers and their networks in the British music-publishing trade, 1676-1820 / edited by Simon D.I. Fleming, Martin Perkins. (Routledge, 2022)
I wrote my research retrospective. Published it, then (as I always do) thought of a bit more I wanted to add this morning. This is what I added:-
It was crazy to start another qualification in another discipline before finishing the [first attempt at a] doctorate. In my own defence, I wanted an occupational pension plan. And everyone (male – I hardly knew any women academics) said it was hard to get a job in academia. In the early eighties. (Aw, bless! How could it have been harder than it is today?)
Previous blogpost
And then I went for a shower, and it was there (unsurprisingly) that I had my lightbulb moment. What had I just written? “I hardly knew any women academics.”
When I was an undergraduate in Durham (1976-79), there was only one woman lecturer, a doctoral candidate in composition. I believe she went to join the BBC – so, that would have been a move out of academia.
Off I went to Exeter for my first attempt at a doctorate. (As I explained in the last blogpost, I didn’t finish that attempt because I changed direction too soon. In fact, I wrote up a Master’s thesis and changed topic for my PhD, which is why I ran out of funded time, resulting in my second change of direction to librarianship, before I had actually written my thesis.) Were there any women academics in the music department at Exeter? I don’t recall any. I was the only female doctoral candidate. (1979-1982). I couldn’t imagine myself in front of a class of undergraduates, and was offered no teaching opportunities, though I can’t say whether I was giving off “Don’t you dare ask me” vibes at the time! I don’t know if any of the guys got teaching opportunities – I suspect not, to be honest. Another missed opportunity to try out the role, in any case.
Then, people were saying that it was virtually impossible to get an academic post in a British university in any case. My guess it that it was easier than it is today! But who were the ‘people’ who were saying? Male people, in all probability. I didn’t know that many women doctoral candidates, apart from those I shared accomodation with, who were in different disciplines. We didn’t talk about our research.
I listened to ‘people’ and decided that actually, the librarianship idea wasn’t such a bad idea after all. I could still be scholarly, but not be a lecturer, and that sounded fine. In fact, even at CLW (College of Librarianship Wales) for my postgraduate diploma, I don’t remember there being many female lecturers, though there may have been one or two. I’m surprised that this has only just dawned on me. I had been to a girls’ school where the majority of teachers were women, and now here I was in yet another higher education institution, where there were barely any women lecturing at all! Where were my women role models? Conspicuous by their absence!
So here I am. I did get a PhD eventually. I understand that when I wanted to study for that second attempt at a doctorate, someone in my present institution was heard to declare, “What does a librarian want with a PhD anyway?” Well, I funded myself and studied in my spare time, and I like to think I’ve proved the answer to that, at any rate. I have published quite a bit, and I have done some lecturing, on a small scale – spasmodically. I could have done more of it, given different circumstances – of course I could. But I could definitely have done with a push in the right direction when I was in my 20s.
So what is the point of this diatribe? Girls need role-models, and they need encouragement. Despite my early 1970s education in a ‘girls can do anything’ environment, this didn’t carry through to higher education. I had the same educational opportunities, but I definitely could have done with a nudge to fulfil my potential. To tell me that I could, when I didn’t believe myself. And I wish there had been role models to act as mentors.
I’m here where I am, approaching retirement as a librarian. Not next year or the year after, but it’s approaching. What can we do to help the next generation of girls get their equal share of self-belief and opportunities? Because nothing else will do!
Karen McAulay, Musicologist 